The cleric and historian Chih is sent record the happenings in the court of the new Empress when the news breaks that Lake Scarlet, a location forbidden to visit by In-Yo, the previous Empress, is now open to visitors. Chih cannot resist the chance to explore the lake country where In-Yo war exiled after her reign.

There Chih happens upon an old woman named Rabbit, once a servant to the long dead In-Yo, who holds many secrets about the previous Empress and how she used a marriage of convenience to make permanent change in her country.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune is short read at only 100ish pages but it quietly packs a punch with its lessons of loyalty and resistance.